80 COLONIAL REPORTS MISCELLANEOUS. 



i liis species is also excellent along the cleared shores of the lake. 

 Extensive patches ol (all elephant grass have made their appear- 

 ance on i In- cleared -lopes facing (lie lake, and as these patches 

 appear to he Imnn every year during the dry season there is 

 some danger of denudation of the hill-sides eventually taking 

 place, if the spread of ihe grass -it ihe expense of forest growth 

 is not checked. 



The lake itself does not appear to occupy the crater of an 

 ancient volcano as has been suggested. I could find no trace of 

 vulcanic action anywhere. It is more probably due to 

 the sudden subsidence of an upland valley; subsidence is still 

 going on, as is manifest from the dead trees to be seen standing 

 \\r11 a\vay from the shores in the southern end of the lake, and 

 i lie encroachment annually of the water on the village lands at 

 that end. There is a marked difference in the level of the surface 

 of the lake in the wet and the dry seasons. 



The Forests between Lake Bosumptivi and the Anum River. 



After leaving, by the Bansu-Odumase road, the steep-sided basin 

 in which the lake is situated, we passed through open well-farmed 

 country in which the usual "standards' 1 such as the Odoum, 

 Waw-waw, Off ram, Emril, Eriodendron anfractuosum, Ricino- 

 dendron africanus, have been left on the farms by the natives. A 

 few irregular belts of secondary forest containing some Khayas 

 and Pseudocedrelas were also met with here and there, especially 

 along the water-courses. 



Vegetation and farms of this type are met with for some dis- 

 tance on the other side of the Anum Eiver, which is still a large 

 stream in this locality and quite capable of floating out the 

 heaviest timber. 



The Forests between the Anum River and Odiimase. 



After crossing the Anum River we ascended the low undulat- 

 ing plateau that forms the country to the east of the sacred lake. 

 For the first hour the path led through open country that had 

 been well cleared of forest growth for cultivation; cocoa farms 

 extend on either side of the track for miles, practically, and are 

 but little interrupted by belts of forest. The latter then become 

 larger in extent and finally merge into a splendid old forest that 

 is almosl primeval in character. This forest is about 16 miles 

 ode from east to west where we crossed it, and stretches south- 

 believe, for a long distance. It contains trees of lofty 

 the leaf canopy is almost complete, and in the dense 

 that prevails the undergrowth is so sparse that one can see 

 to fO yards through the forest, and can walk freely about 

 it \N itliout having to use the matchet. 



It is greatly to be deplored that this magnificent example of 

 tropical evergreen forest is so comparatively poor in trees of 

 economic value; with the exception of a few cedars that were 

 seen at long intervals and a more plentiful supply of the Odoum 

 there was nothing to be found there that is of much value at 



